MULTAN, Oct 10: The Kisan Board Pakistan will launch a protest drive from Friday (Oct 12) against low phutti (seed cotton) prices.

In a joint press statement, KBP president Sadiq Khan Khakwani and secretary

Mian Muhammad Ilayas said cotton growers were suffering due to the indifferent attitude of the people at the helms of affairs.

They said the growers were unable to fetch the minimum fixed price of phutti, that was Rs780 per maund. They said at a recent meeting with the federal agriculture minister, they had stressed that the Trading Corporation of Pakistan should be given a procurement target of at least three million bales. But, they said, the government had set a target of only one million bales. This quantity of cotton procurement would be failed to serve the cause of market stabilization through public sector intervention.

They announced that the KBP would start its protest campaign from Oct 12, and organize a big rally on Oct 24. If the government did not pay any heed to growers’ woes, the Kisan Board would call for a three-day protest drive.